Since the first attempts by Europeans to penetrate Greenland's interior in the 18th century, its geometric center, Eismitte ("middle ice" in German), has been one of the most forbidding but scientifically rich locations in the Arctic. Tracing its history from European contact through to the Cold War, this study shows how Eismitte was a setting for scientific knowledge production as well as diplomatic maneuvering, providing new insights into the history of polar exploration and the intertwining of the scientific and geopolitical spheres. Author Janet Martin-Nielsen draws on new research in private, government, military, and institutional archives in multiple countries to explain how this very remote place became a highly charged site of collaboration, contestation, and competition.

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Janet Martin-Nielsen is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Aarhus University's Centre for Science Studies, Denmark. She has a PhD from the University of Toronto's Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Canada. Her work has appeared in Annals of Science, the Journal of Historical Geography, History of the Human Sciences, and the Journal for the History of the Behavioral Sciences.